{"id":9216,"date":"2026-04-27T15:36:18","date_gmt":"2026-04-27T15:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.openvaluefoundation.org\/?p=9216"},"modified":"2026-04-27T15:36:19","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T15:36:19","slug":"blog-post-34","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/2026\/04\/27\/blog-post-34\/","title":{"rendered":"Blog post 34"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alhagie is a young Gambian man, aged 25, who now lives in Venice. Like many other young African migrants, at one point he chose a risky path across the Mediterranean in the hope of building a better future in Europe. Alhagie was determined to succeed in life, even if it meant putting his life in danger. <\/strong>

In the summer of 2012, the then student told his mother of his intention to embark on what Gambians call \u201cthe back way\u201d to Europe. Without hesitation, his mother immediately let her son know that she did not support his idea and asked him to focus on finishing his studies. She didn't know it yet, but her son wasn't asking her permission to embark on that journey; the decision had been made, and this was a farewell.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Defying his mother, Alhagie embarked on his journey, passing through Senegal first. His next stop was Mali, a country known for being part of a popular route for West African migrants. There, Alhagie quickly realised that his journey was not going to be a walk in the park. The language barrier quickly became a major obstacle for the teenager, and unfamiliar with the country's currency, he fell into the traps from various people he asked for help from along the way.<\/strong> He ran out of money a few days into his trip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite the difficult circumstances he found himself in, Alhagie's persistence meant he eventually reached Sebha, in Libya, via Agadez, in Niger. The young Gambian spent a week travelling across the Sahara Desert with his travel companions, unaware of what awaited them. Upon arriving in Sabah, they were auctioned and sold as slaves.<\/strong>. Alhagie's only way out was to pay the person who had bought him four hundred euros. Alhagie knew he had to do everything he could to get the money because what happens after being sold is one of the worst nightmares for any emigrant who has been through Libya.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Libya is the last stop before starting the perilous journey to reach Europe.<\/strong> Along with other people, the young migrant managed to get on a boat and sail towards Italy. As has happened so many other times before, The crossing could have resulted in a tragedy, but that day luck was on Alhagie's side and the Italian authorities were quick to arrive to rescue his boat.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alhagie arrived in Venice in 2013 and There began the struggle of a young man whose sole ambition was to provide for his family in his country.<\/strong> A minor and undocumented, Alhagie was placed in the care of an Italian family. Seeing how his fellow migrants were living in asylum centres and in very harsh and inhumane conditions, Alhagie quickly threw himself into his education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First he learned Italian and then he enrolled in vocational training courses, obtaining a plumbing diploma<\/strong>. Despite the training he had received, Alhagie still lacked a work permit and was unable to find stable employment. However, remembering that his elderly mother had run out of savings to support him for the rest of his journey, Alhagie could only think of persevering. Furthermore, fellow travellers and friends in similar situations were already settling down and beginning to send remittances to their families. The pressure on Alhagie was mounting with each passing day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, he obtained a work permit and employment, as well as the papers that would make him a legal resident in Italy. For Alhafge, being undocumented in a foreign country is one of an emigrant's worst nightmares, so when he managed to regularise his situation and stabilise, he breathed a sigh of relief. From then on, the dream of a better future and helping his family began to come true.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sending money to his family then became a monthly habit for Alhagie.<\/strong> However, shortly afterwards, he suffered an accident at his workplace that prevented him from continuing to work and nearly crushed his dreams. Despite being confined to bed, supporting his family remained a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A friend taught me how to use Baluwo<\/a>, a platform for e-commerce that Africans in the diaspora can use to help their families back home with food, among other services<\/strong>. At first, Alhagie, who describes himself as someone who doesn't know much about technology and had heard that online shopping wasn't safe, had some doubts. But he decided to take his friend's advice and signed up for Baluwo. He soon started supporting his family back home with essential goods and has continued to do so for the past few years up to the present.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis platform is not only convenient for me, but I also find it safe and reliable. I come from a very large family. Now I can provide them with what they need most and, at the same time, control my spending.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the young Alhagie, Baluwo<\/a> it has become his salvation over the years, and has had a vital impact on his life and that of his family. Now, his elderly mother no longer queues to buy prepaid electricity in her country. Her son does it from the comfort of his home and his mobile phone in Italy.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A plumber based in Venice and a Gambian mother who gave up her savings for her son to reach Europe are now more connected, thanks to a An innovative idea and a technology that has managed to bring thousands of African families even closer together.<\/strong><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alhagie es un joven gambiano de 25 a\u00f1os que hoy vive en Venecia. Al igual que muchos otros j\u00f3venes migrantes africanos, en su d\u00eda eligi\u00f3 un camino arriesgado para cruzar el Mediterr\u00e1neo con la esperanza de construir en Europa un futuro mejor. Alhagie estaba decidido a triunfar en la vida, aunque para ello tuviera que poner […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9216","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog-post"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9216","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9216"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9216\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9218,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9216\/revisions\/9218"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9216"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9216"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/openvaluefoundation.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9216"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}